Ajax ace Lasse Schone: Europa League final won't be same after Manchester terror attack

Lasse Schone feels there will be a shadow over the Europa League final

The 30-year-old Dane revealed that his own wife and daughter, along with many of the other players’ families, were at an Ariana Grande concert in Amsterdam just days before Monday’s tragic events at the Manchester Arena.

Like their opponents, the Ajax players were still trying to come to terms with what happened when they spoke ahead of the Europa League final.

Schone spoke about the visit to see Grande perform at the 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome just eight days before the suicide bomber struck.

“It was terrible for us as well,” he said. “You read about it, you see it - it is devastating.

“Ariana Grande performed in Amsterdam this month and my wife and my child were there, so it is so close.

“It is horrible and our sympathy goes out to the the friends and families of the victims.

“It takes the sparkle away from what should have been a wonderful match.”

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“It takes the sparkle away from what should have been a wonderful match”

Ajax midfielder Lasse Schone

While Schone, like most of the Ajax players, was happy to speak in English, his boss Peter Bosz said he wanted to use his native tongue to express his distress.

Bosz confirmed Schone was not the only Ajax player whose wife and children had gone to see the US performer.

“What happened in Manchester yesterday is something that we all feel at Ajax,” he said.

“On behalf of the players, staff and everyone at Ajax we would like to express our sympathy to the victims.

“The feeling that prevails for me is this final doesn’t have the glow that it should have because of the event in Manchester. It is horrible.”

But Schone refused to be drawn on whether the final should have been postponed, with both sets of players almost certain to be affected by the terrible events that occurred just 48 hours earlier.

He said it was not a issue for him to become involved in and that it had to be left to the authorities, with a UEFA official sitting next quickly insisting the questions should be “about football”.

But although United look sure to be hit the hardest, the Ajax team is a very young one, with an expected average age of around 20.

Bosz also revealed former United skipper Edwin van der Sar - now the chief executive of Ajax - had been in touch with his former club since the attack.

“We were all looking forward to what should have been a big celebration,” added Bosz. “It is going to have an impact on both teams.

“Obviously we want to win and Manchester United want to win, but this is a shadow hanging over this final.”

Nobody can say what kind of game we can expect tonight.

But if France’s performance against England in November at Wembley, just days after the explosion at the Stade de France while they were playing Germany, is anything to go by Jose Mourinho’s men could find it tough.

The French lost 2-0 and, at times, looked like they were playing in a daze.